Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz told public radio, Thursday morning, "I am on my way to Ben Gurion to receive [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and [United States Vice President] Mike Pence. They are expected to land close to each other around 9 am. I intend to thank Putin personally for the then Soviet Union's share of the victory over the Nazis."
Responding to a Channel 11 News interview with Polish President Andrzej Duda who said he would refuse to meet with Katz as long as he did not apologize for his remarks about Polish anti-Semitism, Katz said: "The reason he did not come [to this week's World Holocaust Forum] is not my statement. Each one takes the historical truth with him in his own directions. I carry the memory of the Holocaust with me. We are in a cohesive event today."